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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Central U.S. Slammed by Tornadoes and Torrential Rain; Beto O'Rourke Trailing Badly in Polls; Pelosi Meeting with Dems Amid Growing Impeachment Calls; U.S. "Deterrence" or "Dangerous" Game; Wall Street Rebounds. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired May 22, 2019 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:30:24] DAVID BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: Oklahoma under water. Dozens of dangerous rescues required. Epic rain and a tornado outbreak leaving parts of the Plains and Midwest devastated.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: More Democrats say it's time to consider impeaching the President. What will the House Speaker tell her caucus this morning?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. AYANNA PRESSLEY (D-MA): Yes or no?
BEN CARSON, HUD SECRETARY: Reclaiming my time.
PRESSLEY: You don't get to do that.
CARSON: Oh.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Oh, the Housing secretary doesn't know the basic rules of his job. He also doesn't know the difference between a cookie and a foreclosure.
ROMANS: And one of the wildest police chases you will ever see. A busted up stolen RV, multiple crashes, a dog escapes, the driver does not. It's just bizarre.
Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
BRIGGS: I'm Dave Briggs. 4:30 Eastern Time, 3:30 Central and that's where we start.
Happening now, thousands of people in the nation's heartland waking up to utter devastation. Vicious weather bringing damaging tornadoes and torrential rains overnight.
In Oklahoma, dozens of dramatic water rescues. A woman spotted clinging to a tree as floodwaters rushed around her. After one rescuer reached her, two others pulled her to safety. Neighbors also helping each other out, including this woman, confined to a wheelchair.
This house in Edmond, Oklahoma surrounded by massive floodwaters. And a car trapped, raging floods closing parts of Interstate 40 just west of Oklahoma City including El Reno where water stretched as far as the eye can see. Wow.
ROMANS: Major erosion on the Cimarron River from heavy rains in Kingfisher County. Eleven injuries reported in Oklahoma. There were at least 30 reports of tornadoes in the central U.S. Most of the twisters are touching down in Kansas and Missouri.
And look at this image out of Nebraska. A state trooper tweeted this photo. He says the tornado stayed in the field and likely did not cause much damage. But what an image.
The central U.S. not out of the woods, yet. Two systems are converging now, expected to deliver a dangerous end of the week.
CNN's Pedram Javaheri has the latest forecast.
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, Dave and Christine, another day of severe weather in almost the identical spots rights across the central portion of the U.S., the central plains. And of course, in the past 24 hours, you see the numbers come in, over 30 reports of tornadoes and about 50 or so reports of wind and hail damage. So a shrunken down version of what we've seen in the past couple of days. But the threat exists, though, going in towards the next 24 or so hours.
And by this afternoon, notice right around Joplin into Tulsa, that's a three on a scale of one to five. The threat, though, as far as rotation within these storms, very much limited today. So we'll look for damaging winds and large hail as the predominant risk across these regions.
When it comes to severe weather and that southerly flow, not helping out here to destabilizing the atmosphere, but also a possibility for some storms across the Mid-Atlantic over the next 24 or so hours. But notice this, high pressure begins to build. We get a tremendous ridge forming across this region. With that, temperatures rise well above the average for this time of year, especially across parts of the Mid- Atlantic and the south into the 90s and Washington, D.C., approaching 90 degrees. These temps are in-lined with among the hottest temps we've ever seen in the month of May as we approach the holiday weekend.
All these records could be set across these cities by Saturday or Sunday. Guys?
BRIGGS: All right, turning to politics now. Beto O'Rourke trying to jump-start his presidential campaign in the CNN town hall last night. He says he's seeking a national audience for his ideas even though the early stages of his campaign featured a more personal touch with O'Rourke holding up to six town halls a day in early voting states.
The former Texas congressman says he can see the U.S.-Mexico border from his porch in El Paso and does not approve of President Trump's attempt to cut $500 million in aid to El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras where many asylums seeking -- seekers are fleeing violence.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. BETO O'ROURKE (D-TX) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He wants to cut that. I would double it, and I would focus it on violence prevention so that no mother has to make of that God-awful decision of sending her child on a 2,000-mile trek because it is the only choice that she has now. Let's invest in those solutions there so that families can stay there, they can be prosperous there, they can help those countries come together, and make sure that we have partners in the Western Hemisphere.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: According to a new Quinnipiac Poll, O'Rourke has a lot of ground to make up. Joe Biden is the leading choice of Democratic voters by more than 2-1 over Bernie Sanders. And while Elizabeth Warren is trending up, Pete Buttigieg is leveling off. And O'Rourke is actually trending down.
Look, it's very early. These polls are notoriously fickle as early.
[04:35:02] And look at this, the majority of voters who are not paying a lot of attention to the presidential campaign back Sanders, while voters who are paying a lot of attention favor Biden.
Biden is hitting back at President Trump's claim that he abandoned his home state of Pennsylvania. The former VP says he was 10 years old when his family moved because the coal industry was dying and there were no jobs.
BRIGGS: Critics of anti-abortion laws turning out at rallies nationwide. Thousands of protesters taking to the streets in cities including New York, Atlanta, Cleveland, San Diego, Seattle, Tucson, Portland, Salt Lake City, Charlotte and Washington, D.C. Some of the Democratic presidential hopefuls showing up in the capital to offer their support.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is not just a coincidence that one state did it and then another state. No, this was a plan. Look back at what the president of the United States said in 2016. That's what he stands for, that's what this administration stands for. And you cannot view it in isolation.
MAYOR PETE BUTTIGIEG (D-IN), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The right person to make this decision is the woman who is facing that choice in her life and her health. I do not believe that women and their doctors should be overruled by the heavy hand of government on an issue like this.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BRIGGS: Sixteen states have now passed or are in the process of passing tighter restrictions on abortions. But yesterday, the majority female in Nevada has simply passed a bill to ease abortion restrictions. The measure no longer requires doctors to tell women about the emotional implications of an abortion which some critics consider intimidation.
ROMANS: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is huddling with fellow Democrats this morning. A growing number of her members clamoring to initiate impeachment proceedings against the president. The number of Democrats calling for impeachment or at least an inquiry growing significantly. CNN's count shows 18, the Washington Post has many as 25. Pelosi holding her ground for now and resisting.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Madam Speaker, are you under increased pressure to impeach the president from your caucus?
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): No. No.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Pelosi insists she wants to pursue a more methodical approach and allow the committees and the courts to do their work. But in a sign, Speaker Pelosi senses her members getting restless. The New York Times reports she has approved an escalation of tactics but still short of impeachment. Some members clearly getting antsy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Is it time to move forward with impeachment inquiry?
REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): I do. I personally do. We can't be scared of elections. We need to uphold the rule of law.
RAJU: Are you there yet?
REP. ELIJAH CUMMINGS (D-MD): I'm getting there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Even as Democrats do pass an impeachment resolution, the Republican-led Senate is all but guaranteed to reject it.
BRIGGS: Robert Mueller reluctant to testify in public. His team says he does not want to appear political after staying out of the spotlight for two years. One option is to have him testify behind closed doors, but that notion has become a major sticking point. Democrats believe the public needs to hear directly from the special counsel. Sources say numerous options are being considered in the negotiation process.
ROMANS: All right. First on CNN, the Justice Department offering a deal to House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff to back off enforcement action against Attorney General Bill Barr, and Democrats can see counterintelligence materials from the Mueller investigation.
Last week, Schiff vowed to take unspecified actions against the Justice Department for not providing documents to his committee. He had only been offered a less redacted version of the Mueller report. The DOJ now says it is reviewing the documents Schiff wants and will make them available in, quote, relatively short order.
CNN has reached out to Chairman Schiff's office. No response yet.
BRIGGS: A bizarre day on Capitol Hill for HUD Secretary Ben Carson. He appeared confused when a freshman congressman asked him whether poor tenants or even his own grandmother should live in inadequate public housing. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRESSLEY: Yes or no, is stable and safe housing a social determinant of health?
CARSON: Sounds like you have not been here and heard most of my testimony.
PRESSLEY: Please just answer the question, reclaiming my time. Yes or no, if left unaddressed, do you believe the substandard public housing conditions pose a risk to tenants' physical, mental and emotional health if left unaddressed?
CARSON: Yes or no, can you ask me some questions yourself? Stop reading --
PRESSLEY: You don't get to dictate what my line of questioning is reclaiming my time. You're a very smart man.
CARSON: You can reclaim it all you want.
PRESSLEY: So you understand the question, please answer it.
CARSON: You already know the answer to that.
PRESSLEY: Yes or no?
CARSON: You know the answer.
PRESSLEY: Yes or no? I know the answer. Do you know the answer, yes or no?
CARSON: Reclaiming my time.
PRESSLEY: You don't get to do that.
CARSON: Oh.
REP. MAXINE WATERS (D-CA): The time belongs to the gentle lady.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BRIGGS: That incident coming after Carson confused REOs, real estate owned properties that fail to sell at foreclosure auctions with Oreos, a classic cream-filled chocolate cookie.
ROMANS: The director of Housing and Urban Development.
[04:40:02] A wild ride through the streets of Los Angeles. It's just unbelievable. This woman is driving a stolen RV, leading police on a dangerous, high-speed chase last night. This began in Santa Clarita and continued for a half hour with the RV hitting speeds of up to 60 miles-an-hour through San Fernando Valley.
At one point, a dog who was on the driver's lap could be seen halfway out of the shattered windshield, and then the dog little appeared to tumble out of the speeding vehicle. We're told the dog was unharmed. There was a second dog dangling from the window until the RV slammed into another car and plowed into some trees. Now the driver got out and tried to flee on foot with the dog following behind, but she was quickly tackled by police and taken into custody.
All right. The trade war is not good for business, not good for consumers. And economists warn that a protracted trade war could have a meaningful impact on consumer spending.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch reports shoppers do not like the escalating trade war with China. They've pulled back on spending since the beginning of the year. According to the firm, its consumer confidence indicators started to decline on May 11th, the same day the U.S. said it would raise tariffs on imports from China to 25 percent from 10 percent.
Morgan Stanley also weighed in, noting trade tensions could affect the global economy. Economists there write, "If trade talks stall, no deal is agreed upon, and the U.S. imposes 25 percent tariffs on the remaining 300 billion of imports from China, we will see the global economy heading toward recession."
We're nearing the one-year anniversary of the start of the trade war with no signs of talks resuming. Investors will be looking to the G20 summit next month for any hints of progress.
BRIGGS: Is there any hint of progress right now?
ROMANS: No, not yet. Not yet. I mean, a lot of people think it's going to have to come man-to-man.
BRIGGS: Face-to-face.
ROMANS: It's going to be Trump and Xi together who have to decide, but each have internal considerations, you know. The Chinese don't want to codify these rules that the Americans want to see put into law in China.
BRIGGS: All right. Ahead, not what you want to hear before a major beach weekend. A 10-foot great white shark has been spotted in Long Island Sound. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:46:21] BRIGGS: Lawmakers are sharply divided along party lines over the threat posed by Iran after top Trump administration officials briefed the House and Senate in two closed-door sessions. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan pushing the message of deterrence. They say changes in the U.S. defense posture in the Persian Gulf prevented potential attacks on Americans. But an exclusive interview with CNN, Iran's top diplomat does not agree.
Nic Robertson is live for us in Abu Dhabi with the latest. Nic, good morning.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes. Good morning, Dave. If you listen to Javad Zarif, the Iranian foreign minister, he would have the world believe that the United States is at fault here. He's saying that the U.S. naval presence in the Persian Gulf is actually a dangerous situation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAVAD ZARIF, IRAN'S FOREIGN MINISTER: Having all these military assets in a small waterway is, in and of itself, prone to accident, particularly when you have people who are interested in accidents. So, extreme prudence is required and we believe that the United States is playing a very, very dangerous game.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTSON: Well, Patrick Shanahan doesn't take it that way. He says, look, Iran is the threat there. We are managing the threat. But I think a lot of what we are hearing coming out of the Iranians has a lot to do with them trying to appeal to a domestic audience, remembering they're under tough sanctions, their economy is hurting.
The Iranian president said that when President Trump threatened Iran with military action, he said that in the United States, President Trump's military aides came to him and said dial it back. And for Rouhani, you know, telling his audience, the Iranian population, that shows Iran's strength in the region, the reality of what is happening at the moment in the Persian Gulf. The United States with its Gulf allies on enhanced naval security patrols at the moment.
Dave?
BRIGGS: Well, the American people are paying attention. Fifty-one percent in a Reuters' poll say they feel the U.S. and Iran may go to war in the next few years. Nic Robertson, live for us in Abu Dhabi, thank you.
ROMANS: All right. Is it time for a new CEO at Facebook? A former Facebook executive says, yes. CNN Business has more, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [04:53:01] ROMANS: The parents of a deceased West Point cadet can use his frozen sperm to attempt to surrogate birth. Twenty-one-year-old Peter Zhu died in a skiing accident in February. The ruling by a New York State Supreme Court judge comes two months after he granted Zhu's parents request to save his son's sperm. Now the parents can now attempt to produce a child with a surrogate mother. The judge says the parents have not yet decided whether they will try.
BRIGGS: Lyft is rolling out several new initiatives designed to enhance passenger safety. The company is adding a panic button so riders can call 911 from the app. It's also making the driver's license plate numbers bigger in the app to reduce incidents of mistaken identity. The changes come a month after a University of South Carolina student was killed allegedly by a man posing as her Uber driver.
ROMANS: A dramatic police chase in Sacramento, California caught on video. Watch as the suspect in the stolen red truck weaves in and out of traffic at a high rate of speed. He even sideswipes a car sending the truck spinning. Eventually, the tire caught fire and forced the suspect to jump from the vehicle as it was moving. The truck ultimately burst into flames. The suspect who tried to run off was taken into custody.
BRIGGS: Cue that creepy "Jaws" music. With just a few days to go until a major holiday beach weekend, a 10-foot great white shark has been spotted in the Long Island Sound. It was detected off the coast of Greenwich, Connecticut on Monday.
A nonprofit group that tracked the shark says it's unusual for the species to be in the area. The shark was first tagged off the Nova Scotia coast last October and initially traveled south of the Gulf of Mexico in January before returning north along the East Coast of the U.S.
ROMANS: I think feats of strength without fist to fist. A mountaineer from Nepal, Kami Rita Sherpa just broke his own record by climbing Mt. Everest, the world's tallest mountain, for a 24th time. And get this, he completed the last two ascents in the same week.
[04:55:02] The 49-year-old was leading a team of Indian police when he reached the summit, Tuesday, setting his new mark. He tells Reuters he is still strong and intends to scale Everest for the 25th time.
BRIGGS: Well done.
You can count Aaron Rodgers, "Game of Thrones" extra, and full-time Packers quarterback among the fans not happy with how the epic series ended. Rodgers actually had a cameo in the penultimate Thrones' episode playing terrified King's Landing (INAUDIBLE) in number 12. Still, that didn't stop him from going on a rant about the series finale.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Were you satisfied with the ending of "Game of Thrones"?
AARON RODGERS, PACKERS QUARTERBACK: No. You come down to the end and Tyrion says the person with the best story is Bran? Jon had a better story. Dany had a better story. Arya had a better story. Sansa had a better story. Tyrion had a better story. Varys had a better story. Bronn, a lot better story. Jaime, better story. Cersei, probably a better story.
I love the show, but, you know, the writers were also doing "Star Wars," so I think they might have been a little busy this last season.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Slayed.
ROMANS: Whew!
BRIGGS: "Game of Thrones" fans despondent the show is over, getting some good news from author George R.R. Martin. He says he's hard at work on finishing the books on which the series was based. Asked if whether they will end the same way, Martin says yes and no.
ROMANS: All right. We live it there. Let's get a check on CNN's Business this morning. Global markets are mixed as these trade (INAUDIBLE) -- tensions, rather, hang around here on Wall Street.
Looking in the futures right now, we're going to pop that up. I can tell you what they're doing. They're down just a little bit. I've called it directionless actually.
Look, the DOW closed up nicely yesterday, 197 points. The S&P 500 gained almost one percent. The NASDAQ ended the day up 1.1 percent, reversing some of the prior day's losses.
Now, tech stocks rebounded after the Trump administration loosen some restrictions placed on Huawei. AAPL, NVDA, and Advanced Micro Devices close up two percent each. On the other hand, retail stocks fell sharply, again, on trade. Kohl's plunged 12 percent after slashing its guidance. JC Penney declined seven percent after reporting a drop in sales.
Facebook's former chief security officer says Mark Zuckerberg needs to give up control of Facebook. During a tech conference Tuesday, Alex Stamos said, if I was him, I would go hire a new CEO for the company. Facebook facing increased scrutiny for the outsize influence it holds over society.
Earlier this month, Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes called for its breakup. Stamos added, Facebook needs to have an internal revolution on the culture of how products are built and Zuckerberg should lead that charge.
All right. Reusable packaging is heading to Walgreens and Kroger as part of a new partnership with Loop, a service that offers shoppers an alternative to recycling. Loop works as a delivery service offering about 300 items in reusable packaging. Customers use the products, place the empty containers in a tote on their doorstep. Consumers can also pick up their products and drop off empty packages at participating Walgreens and Krogers in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Washington, D.C.
Now, for now, customers have to sign up for a pilot program to use the service. Eventually, the program will be open to regular shoppers.
And this is the big problem for so many, especially for families with, you know, three kids. I have so much packaging every week.
BRIGGS: Yes.
ROMANS: The amount of packaging that my family goes through.
BRIGGS: It's very difficult. But the good news is, even though we're out of the climate deal, private industry is moving forward --
ROMANS: That's right.
BRIGGS: -- anyway regardless.
ROMANS: That's right.
BRIGGS: EARLY START continues right now.
BRIGGS: Oklahoma under water. Dozens of dangerous rescues required. Epic rain and a tornado outbreak leaving parts of the Plains and Midwest devastated.
ROMANS: More Democrats say it's time to consider impeaching the president. Can the speaker rein in her party?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. KATIE PORTER (D-CA): You know what an REO is.
CARSON: An Oreo?
PORTER: R -- no, not an Oreo, an R-E-O.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: The Housing secretary does not know the difference between a cookie and a foreclosure.
ROMANS: And this is one of the wildest police chases you will ever see. A busted up, stolen RV, multiple crashes, a dog escapes through the window. The driver does not.
All right. Good --
BRIGGS: We have your attention.
ROMANS: Good morning. Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
BRIGGS: I'm Dave Briggs. Wednesday, May 22nd, 5 a.m. in the East, 4:00 a.m. in Oklahoma. That's where we begin this morning.
In the Central Time zone, thousands of people in the nation's heartland waking up to utter devastation. Vicious weather bringing damaging tornadoes and torrential rains overnight. We've just learned one person died in Oklahoma after driving around a barricade and drowned.
In Oklahoma, dozens of dramatic water rescues. A woman spotted clinging to a tree as floodwaters rushed around her. After one rescuer reached her, two others pulled her to safety. Neighbors also helping each other out.
[05:00:00]
